Whistleblower At The CIA: A Path Of Dissent – An Insider’s Account Of The Politics Of Intelligence, by Melvin A. Goodman (City Lights Books, San Francisco, 2017, 421 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

August 16, 2017 (San Diego) - Melvin A. Goodman, a former Soviet analyst at the CIA and the Department of State for 24 years, and a professor of international relations at the War College for 18 years, has written an intriguing and thought provoking book about espionage and politics; Whistleblower at the CIA. This is a timely and definitive book on the current state of affairs between America and Russia.

March 29, 2016 (Washington, D.C.) - On Monday, President Barack Obama criticized the media’s handling of the 2016 presidential campaign trail coverage, saying “a job well done is about more than just handing someone a microphone.”

January 27, 2016 (Washington D.C.) – Juveniles in federal prisons can no longer be sentenced to solitary confinement under an executive order issued by President Barack Obama that also reforms solitary confinement rules for adults. Also this week, the Supreme Court ruled that an earlier decision banning mandatory life sentences for juveniles applies retroactively—meaning prisoners who committed serious crimes before age 18 must have parole hearings or an opportunity for resentencing.

January 2, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Donald J. Trump, the very definition of the American success story, has now delved into politics with his candidacy for the White House, and explains why in his very provocative book; Crippled America: How To Make America Great Again. Trump, a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance, an accomplished author and having written more than fifteen bestsellers, with his first book, The Art of the Deal, being considered a business classic and one of the most successful business books of all time. There is no question that trump has been a very successful entrepreneur and businessman – but does that necessarily translate into his being a great politician or President of the United States?

America: The Black Point Of View, An Investigation And Study Of The White People Of America And Western Europe, and The Autobiography Of An American Ghetto Boy, The 1950s And 1960s, by Tony Rose (Amber Books, 2015, Phoenix, Arizona, 545 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

November 28, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - The title itself is a mouthful, but make no mistake, this thought-provoking book by Tony Rose, Publisher/Editor and Editorial Director of Amber Communications Group, Inc., and the 2013 44th Annual NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literature, is hard hitting and frank. Rose pulls no punches, as he tells his story the way he knows and believes it to be true. This book is raw and compelling, and as a matter of fact, Rose feels the need to forewarn us by stating on its cover; “Warning: This Book Has Strong Language, Explicit Violence, Explicit And Extreme Sexual Content.”

November 10, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – Amid a public outcry over soaring prescription drug prices, President Barack Obama’s administration has announced it will hold a public forum on drug prices on November 20th.

August 23, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former First Lady of the United States, Senator from New York, and Secretary of State, has written an insightful and finely calibrated work; Hard Choices. This book, or memoir, takes us inside national and international politics from the perspective of someone who has actually lived and breathed it for the majority of her life, making her eminently qualified to speak on subjects such as climate change or nuclear proliferation. Being the author of several bestselling books, including her memoir Living History, and her groundbreaking work on children, It Takes a Village, Clinton demonstrates her compassion and humanity in this book.

July 19, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Elizabeth Warren, the senior senator from Massachusetts, a former Harvard Law School professor and an expert on economic issues, as well as the author of nine books, including All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan and The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke, has written an insightful book that should resonate with us all; A Fighting Chance.

July 16, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – President Barack Obama has announced that the U.S. Department of Labor will propose extending overtime pay protections to nearly 5 million American workers, including over 400,000 Californians. This proposal would increase the current overtime protection threshold, guaranteeing overtime pay to most salaried workers earning less than $50,440 per year if they work more than 40 hours a week.

July 13, 2015 (Washington D.C.) –President Barack Obama discussed his strategy to degrade and destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in a July 6th meeting with civilian and military leaders of his national security team at the Pentagon. Afterwards he spoke with press.

June 27, 2015 (San Diego) – The University of Southern California (USC)’s Keck School of Medicine announced Friday that it has established the USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute in San Diego.

March 15, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--A woman’s place is on the money. That’s the slogan of a new group called Womenon20s.org, which has launched a national campaign to put a woman’s face on the $20 bill.

“Keep guard over your eyes and ears as the inlets of your heart, and over your lips as the outlet, lest they betray you in a moment of unawareness.”

Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Book Review by Dennis Moore

March 4, 2015 (San Diego) - Looking from the outside at Magetta Chantiloupe and all that she has accomplished in life, one would think that this San Diego resident and author of Driven: When Obstacles Take Center Stage, has always had it together. But looks would be deceiving, as this Certified Financial Planner with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards – retired General Stock Broker and native of Jamaica West Indies, and mother of four adult children has fought and struggled to attain all that she has accomplished. Also the author of Iraq: The War That Shouldn’t Be – You Decide, Chantiloupe has been a world traveler – she has cruised the world, 41 of which were on the CUNARD Line. Her actual achievements and overall story could fill several books.

March 2, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – A controversy has arisen involving Hillary Rodham Clinton over revelations that while serving as Secretary of State, she did not have an official government e-mail address and used only a personal e-mail address for all of her official government business.

February 28, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – A shut-down of Homeland Security due to take effect Saturday has been postponed, but only short-term. On Friday, the House and Senate passed a one-week funding bill which the President signed shortly before midnight.

February 28, 2015 (Washington D.C.)—President Barack Obama has vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress. In his veto message, he criticized the Congressional attempt to bypass his administration’s environmental review of the project and ““circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest.”

February 2, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--The Federal Aviation Administration is reporting approximately 200 close calls in the past year between aircraft and drones. That includes two cases of drones flying too close to airport runways in San Diego County – one in East County near Gillespie Field in El Cajon and a second in Carlsbad.

January 25, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - The U.S. Department of the interior announced Sunday that President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress to designate 12 million acres of Alaska’s 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness to protect it from oil and gas drilling.

Photo by White House photographer Pete Souza: President talks with workers at a café in Maryland about paid sick leave

January 16, 2015 (Washington D.C.) -- President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, which would require businesses to provide up to seven paid sick leave days each year for their employees. He also encourages state and local governments to do the same if Congress fails to act.

January 8, 2015 (Washington D.C.)--The House of Representatives voted today to strike down a portion of the Affordable Care Act’s healthcare mandate. The law requires that employers must provide healthcare for all employees working 30 hours a week or more.

December 26, 2014 (San Diego)--At a Christmas Eve mass in Rome, Pope Francis made a plea for the many children who are suffering around the world. “Truly there are so many tears this Christmas," he said, asking for divine intervention to save children who are victims of violence, made objects of trade and trafficking, or forced to become child soldiers.

December 17, 2014 (Washington D.C.) – A bill to extend the wind production tax credit and investment tax credit, along with other tax incentives for wind energy developers, has passed both houses of Congress and is now on President Barack Obama’s desk.

December 16, 2014 (San Diego) – Border Angels founder and San Diego immigrants rights activist Enrique Morones met with President Barack Obama recently at the White House, following a briefing on recent immigration executive action. Morones told ECM he asked for a second executive action “if the new Congress does not act soon on humane immigration reform.” (You can learn more about Border Angels efforts to help local refugees and immigrants at www.borderangels.org .)

December 10, 2014 (Washington D.C.)--A bill passed by House Republicans is reigniting water wars in California and faces virtually certain defeat in the Senate, due to opposition from both of California’s Senators and a veto threat by President Barack Obama.

December 9, 2014 (Washington D.C.) --California Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has released a 500-page executive summary of the committee’s report on enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA after the 9/11 attacks. Those treatments on 119 suspects amounted to torture in some cases, said Senator Feinstein, who concludes that the CIA’s actions a decade ago are “a stain on our values and on our history.”